Lawyer rankings

Peter Claassen

Work Department

IP & Technology.

Position

Peter Claassen chairs the AKD IP&T practice group. Peter has expertise in a wide range of the legal arena. Peter has paid a great contribution to the expansion of AKD’s IP practice and the Retail & Consumer Products branch group. His main expertise is in the classic IP areas such as patents, trade marks, designs and copyright. Peter is regarded as an experienced litigator. A large number of the cases in which he has conducted litigation have been published in specialist literature. In addition Peter has wide experience with the legal aspects of brand development, parallel trading and drafting of IP agreements such as licences, transfers and distribution agreements. Peter's clients include both nationally and internationally renowned companies in the folowing branches: chain stores, electronics, food & beverages, household & personal care, fashion and leisure wear, design and information and communication technology.

Career

In 1984 he worked for a year at Arnall Golden & Gregory, Atlanta, U.S.A. In 1985 Peter started working at AKD where he became a partner in 1992.

Member

He is a member of leading organisations such as INTA and Marques.

Education

Peter studied law at Nijmegen University where he obtained his Master degree. In addition Peter obtained an LLM degree at Miami Law school.

Netherlands: Intellectual property

Patents

Within: Patents

Peter Claassen leads the team at AKD; he is supported by Huib Berendschot and Martin Hemmer, who represented Samsung in pan-European patent enforcement proceedings against numerous companies regarding Samsung‚Äôs printer cartridges. Senior associate Eli√ętte Vaal is also recommended.

Trade marks, copyrights and design rights

Within: Trade marks, copyrights and design rights

AKD ‚Äėmanages large IP projects very efficiently‚Äô. Martin Hemmer represented B√§r Software in copyright and database rights cases against companies such as Pearson. ‚ÄėStrategically inventive‚Äô group head Peter Claassen is ‚Äėan impressive negotiator‚Äô; the ‚Äėvery skilled‚Äô Huib Berendschot is ‚Äėbusiness-oriented‚Äô. Other clients include Samsung and Forax.

Despite the implementation of Directive 2000/35/EC on combating late payment in commercial transactions in 2002, the European Commission (the ‚ÄúCommission‚ÄĚ) concluded in 2008 that late payments were still widespread in the EU. It also turned out that public authorities in certain Member States were stipulating unjustifiably long contractual payment periods for transactions.

In the field of corporate law, there are four (coming) Acts that attract attention, namely the introduction of the tenth book of the Dutch Civil Code, the amendment of the Marital Property Act and, to conclude, the coming entry into effect of the Management and Supervision Act and the Flexibilization of BV Act. Please find below a short explanation of each Act.

A non-solicitation agreement usually restricts the ability of an employee - after an employment contract has ended - to approach the clients of the former employer. The former employee of a software company recently discovered that the scope of such an agreement can also include contacts made via LinkedIn.

Few jurisdictions can boast a foreign direct
investment record like the Netherlands. As the
world's seventh largest inward receiver of
investments, housing approximately 9000
foreign-owned companies, the country's dynamic
business environment provides an invaluable insight
into macro investment trends.

The Netherlands and Dutch law
The Netherlands is a perfect business location for foreign entrepreneurs (2,000 subsidiaries in Amsterdam, 140,000 jobs). It is the gateway to densely populated Western Europe and has a well-developed logistic and technical infrastructure.

The employment of foreign workers in the Netherlands regularly raises questions. What issues do you need to be aware of as an employer? A brief summary of the most important areas of attention will be dealt with in this article.